Obama the latest of many presidents to visit

Jan. 29, 2014

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Whether launching a construction project, campaigning for re-election, paying their respects or even playing a song, presidents have regularly made their way to Nashville.

With President Barack Obama set to arrive today on Air Force One, here’s a list of chief executives who came through, by train or by plane:

James Monroe: The fifth president came to town on June 6, 1819, during his first term.

Rutherford B. Hayes: Hayes laid the cornerstone of the Customs House building at 701 Broadway in 1877. It was the first time a president had visited the South since the Civil War.

Grover Cleveland: Cleveland, whose first of two non-consecutive terms ran from 1885 to 1889, included Nashville on a Southern trip and spoke from the east side of the Capitol.

William McKinley: The 25th president visited the Tennessee Centennial Exposition for two days in June 1897, his first year in office.

Theodore Roosevelt: Six years after succeeding McKinley, who had been assassinated in 1901, Roosevelt came to Nashville on Oct. 22, 1907, to give a speech at the Ryman Auditorium and visit The Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson. Both Jackson, the seventh president, and President James K. Polk are buried in Nashville.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: FDR came in for a few hours in 1934 and again in 1936 for the funeral of U.S. Rep. Joseph W. Byrns, a former speaker of the U.S. House. Tennessean Chairman Emeritus John Seigenthaler said he remembers his parents taking him to see Roosevelt at Centennial Park in 1934.

John F. Kennedy: Six months before he was shot and killed in Dallas, Kennedy rode along Nashville streets in an open convertible and spoke at Vanderbilt University’s Dudley Field on May 18, 1963.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Kennedy’s successor came through on a campaign trip and spoke at War Memorial Auditorium on Oct. 9, 1964.

Richard Nixon: Less than six months before he resigned amid the Watergate scandal, Nixon played piano at the Grand Ole Opry on its first night in Donelson after leaving the Ryman. He played “My Wild Irish Rose” in honor of his wife. Seigenthaler, who was backstage that night in 1974, said country music legend Roy Acuff, who had run for governor as a Republican in 1948, was “ecstatic.”

Ronald Reagan: The 40th president visited in 1982 and again in 1984, when he was running for re-election, according to a log of his domestic trips.

Bill Clinton: Clinton had a connection to Tennessee and Nashville through his vice president, Al Gore. He spoke at several of Gore’s annual Family Re-Union conferences on family issues.

George W. Bush: The Republican who preceded Obama in office came here at least five times in eight years, including twice during his 2004 re-election campaign. He spoke to groups at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center three times. Bush also visited Kirkpatrick Elementary School to talk about the No Child Left Behind law and Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt to discuss electronic health records.